Oculus Rift

[DarrenM]

Vive pro sounded promising, until it turned out to be $2000AUD for the full kit. Ridiculous.

There's some Odyssey grey imports for around $900 but the steamvr support doesn't seem to be quite there yet and it seems like you need a 1080Ti minimum. I'll wait until I have a next gen video card before upgrading.

[Cursed]

That varifocal thing looks interesting, but I don't have a lot of faith in having that many moving parts in a headset.

[Dr. Pain]

So... I got my rift yesterday. $606 and it took 3 days to get coming from Hong Kong. Only set up trouble I had was the sensors not being recognised but a windows restart fixed that.

First time I used it my heart sank. I'm short sighted and it carries over to the rift. My glasses don't fit properly and they put a lot of pressure on my nose but things were clear. But I could not stand it for very long. So I tried with and without glasses. I also have a big boofhead so the straps need a lot of adjusting to fit my melon. This also doesn't help with the glasses.

I played War Thunder and sat in the cockpit of a P-38 Lightning. It blew my mind! I looked up to see the canopy just above my head. It felt tight in that cockpit. But looking left I could see the prop, engine nacelle and wing. This is something I've wanted for about 20 years. To sit in a plane in VR. Flying it felt so natural. I did endless aileron rolls to see if I would get motion sickness but I focused on a gauge and it was nothing. Only thing pissing me off was not being able to read those gauges due to my sight. The image quality compared to my new 144Hz, g-sync monitor is complete shit. But I didn't care. I was in that plane flying it just above the trees or flying through mountain canyons around Pearl Harbour.

After we finished FNF I tried P Cars 2. Again my vision frustrated me but I have aviator style prescription sunglasses. So I tried them in the rift. They were a much better fit with only a little pressure on my nose. But it did get to me after 30 mins. So I will off to Specsavers to see if I can get a cheap pair of similar frames with clear lens to my prescription. Even if I have to cut the little nose pads off, I think it will work fine and be comfortable. Depending on cost though it might pay to shop at VR lens. But I will see.

Anyway playing P Cars 2, I drove a Lotus 49 at Monza. First thing you notice is how low to the ground you are and how much car isn't around you. I felt exposed driving it knowing I was sitting with fuel tanks either side but it was amazing. I think I spend 1/2 hour there just endlessly saying "holy fuck! This is awesome!". Again like the planes if felt natural to drive but I do feel like I have to relearn due to the graphic change.

Even though I have vision issues with the rift and the image quality is shit compared to my new monitor, I didn't care. It's not something I'll use all the time but when I do, I'll enjoy it as you feel 100% involved and you get caught up in the moment completely. I'm loving it!

[Duke]

Dr. I had the same vision issues when I tried RenZ rift, you need to invest in VR Lens Lab lenses which is what I will do when I finally get a HMD. They are not cheap!!!

https://vr-lens-lab.com/

[DarrenM]

Maybe take the HMD to specsavers when you go to help find a pair that fits best?

You want to avoid having your glasses touch the lenses if you can.

[Dr. Pain]

Those lenses are a good idea Duke but too expensive. If I can get glasses 140 mm wide without the little plastic pads in the nose, I think it will be fine and the lenses wont touch. I'm even thinking about getting new glasses for everyday and removing the plastic pads from my current frames as the frame arms press against the sides of the cloth insert preventing the lenses from even getting close. But I cant stand the pressure in the bridge of my nose. Might give that ago.

[richo]

Mmmm $606.00 isn't too bad at all .

I have been wanting to go Vive or OR for some time but put off by the $$ factor , Doc is that for a new rift or a second hand model?

[Dr. Pain]

New Richo. You get the rift, two controllers and two sensors.

Oh and Duke https://widmovr.com/ A much cheaper way about $160 all up. IT might even be a better way for me.

[Dr. Pain]

Even though I can't see things clear, it's utterly fucking brilliant! Cockpit view in a Spitfire in War Thunder is amazing. Even though I've done a few games in pve, it felt right. Scared the shit our of my sister and her husband in planes. They don't like heights and get some form of motion sickness and I'm there giggling like I'm 10 all over again. Love it!

[DexterPunk]

It’s a unique experience and a game changer (excuse the pun). Grab a third sensor at some point and do some standing room scale VR. Very fun! Still love robo recall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cursed]

Doc, if you want to try your stomach out in War Thunder, I found watching my 6 (or as close as I can manage) while trying to evade a bad guy was a sure path to the cold-sweats.

I'm considering widmovr, but I worry about not being able to read through the nose-gap like I can when I wear my glasses. I have a small framed pair - they were fashionably 10 years ago - flexible wire frame - they fit in the headset but can hurt my nose if they aren't sitting just right.

There's also the option of contact lenses. I have them and they work perfectly for VR but they're annoying to get in place for me (although when I do it more frequently, they get easier to locate).

[Dr. Pain]

I went and had my eye test today so now I know my prescription. As for contacts, well I find out later this week. I have astigmatism so not sure if the contacts will stay in place. Trust me to have both myopia and odd shaped cornea. But the good news is after 5 years I've had only a slight change in vision and it's not enough to need new glasses so when I get the money I will go shopping at widmovr.

[smithcorp]

Those lenses are a good idea Duke but too expensive. If I can get glasses 140 mm wide without the little plastic pads in the nose, I think it will be fine and the lenses wont touch. I'm even thinking about getting new glasses for everyday and removing the plastic pads from my current frames as the frame arms press against the sides of the cloth insert preventing the lenses from even getting close. But I cant stand the pressure in the bridge of my nose. Might give that ago.

Hi Doc - did you see my post in the page above about the VR Lens Lab glasses I got? They work really well, especially with the adjustable bridge and the elastic strap. I found sharpness with glasses in the Rift required the ability to adjust the position of the glasses, in height on the bridge and hence distance from eyes. I found the Lens Lab glasses easier to adjust than normal frames. And interpupil distance seems to be absolutely critical. The lack of arms on these is a big plus. I couldn't fit any of my other frames in the Rift and I read that someone scratched their Rift lenses when their glasses lenses touched the Rift lenses.

smiss

[Dr. Pain]

I did see that Smiss but that works out to be about $210 for me. Where as the widmo lenses and adaptor is about $126 and the lenses stay in the rift. So I'll go widmo when I have the cash. But in the mean time I will be trying contacts over the next day or two so I'll find out how I'll live with them. Contacts will make easier too with the telescope and camera if that all works out.

[DexterPunk]

Those lenses are a good idea Duke but too expensive. If I can get glasses 140 mm wide without the little plastic pads in the nose, I think it will be fine and the lenses wont touch. I'm even thinking about getting new glasses for everyday and removing the plastic pads from my current frames as the frame arms press against the sides of the cloth insert preventing the lenses from even getting close. But I cant stand the pressure in the bridge of my nose. Might give that ago.

Hi Doc - did you see my post in the page above about the VR Lens Lab glasses I got? They work really well, especially with the adjustable bridge and the elastic strap. I found sharpness with glasses in the Rift required the ability to adjust the position of the glasses, in height on the bridge and hence distance from eyes. I found the Lens Lab glasses easier to adjust than normal frames. And interpupil distance seems to be absolutely critical. The lack of arms on these is a big plus. I couldn't fit any of my other frames in the Rift and I read that someone scratched their Rift lenses when their glasses lenses touched the Rift lenses.

smiss

One of the HMD's here at work are scratched because of glasses. But I think it's probably from the corner of frames rather than the lens itself.

[Dr. Pain]

I got contacts yesterday. First wear lasted just over 7 hours and I had no issues. Spent about 1.5 hours in the rift playing War Thunder and had no trouble. It will work out to be $72 for 30 lenses seeing I have different lenses for left and right. It's a good short term fix but I will still get lenses made but I don't think I'll have them for another 6 weeks.

I found the image quality in War Thunder VR to be like watching TV in the 1980's/90's, as in if you look hard enough, you can see a pattern in the image just like CRT's would display. Not as good as LCD to me. But I was so immersed that it didn't bother me one bit, especially looking through a reflector gun sight. They are something to see in VR as a normal image doesn't do it justice. But I found a clip that shows one in real life.

[Cursed]

Looks just like the reflector sight available for the Dr.1 in the Flying Circus early access. Without any add-on sights you really do have to align your head right and eyeball down the barrel of the gun to aim; it's not a problem that you can appreciate when you play it pancake style.

[Dr. Pain]

I got my Widmo lenses today. They took 9 days to come from Poland. They are designed for the original face plate but I've changed mine to a VR cover leather face plate. Who doesn't love the feel of leather on their face?! They fit in the VR cover just fine with no lens contact. They sit just above the rift lens so there's no issue with eye lashes hitting them. I got the thin lens with blue light protection which adds near $60 US to the cost but it seems well worth so far. Everything is clear and they are not going to fall out. So now I don't have to mess about with contacts just to use my rift

[Duke]

Wonder what this will mean for the future of the Rift.

Oculus co-founder is leaving Facebook after cancellation of ‘Rift 2’ headset

Update: 2:13pm PT

While Facebook did not deny our report that the “Rift 2” being developed under Iribe’s PC VR team had been canceled, the company reiterated to us in a comment that they are continuing to invest in PC.

“While we can’t comment on our product roadmap specifics, we do have future plans, and can confirm that we are planning for a future version of Rift,” a Facebook spokesperson told

[DarrenM]

After reading through it all on the oculus subreddit yesterday I got the impression it was just clickbait bullshit/fake news.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/10/22/ocul ... ibes-exit/

Oculus disputed this account when contacted for comment, and said that the company is still “planning a future version of Rift.” At September’s Oculus Connect 5 developers conference, the company laid out plans to support the continued evolution of three separate VR platforms: the low-end standalone Go, the midrange standalone Quest, and the high-end tethered Rift. As Mark Zuckerberg noted, “when we release the next version of Rift — which isn’t this year — all of the content that works for Rift will also work on the next version.”

[Cursed]

Time will tell. My hope is that they stick around because I own a few things in their store and I generally like the integration they've achieved and their ASW type technologies have been so much better than the SteamVR/OpenVR equivalents.

I've become convinced that the VR manufacturers are going to have to work out eye-tracking and foveated rendering in order to lower the processing requirements for VR and open it up to more people.

[Duke]

It may be a little clickbait bullshit/fake news but there is no denying FB only has one of the main developers left from the original Rift team.

[DarrenM]

Not too surprising really. Palmers only value was as a spokesman and he fucked that up by getting political. Nate Mitchell sounds like he took a bit of a demotion to "head of rift" when they brought someone else in. Iribe was also management and they only need so much of that, or he just wanted to do something new. Most of the hardware engineering/research is probably being run by Michael Abrash.

[Cursed]

It may be a little clickbait bullshit/fake news but there is no denying FB only has one of the main developers left from the original Rift team.

Yeah, but the people required to birth a new product idea, raise capital and get a first public release out the door are not necessarily the people you need to evolve and manufacture a maturing product line. Facebook doesn't need an experimenter/tinkerer or venture capital and they have more than enough future-focused tech heads on hand to spend their development dollars.

[Dr. Pain]

Rifts are $529 til December 30 if anyone is thinking about it.

https://www.oculus.com/